Is a Selfie Worth Dying For?

Selfie Death Toll Rising

Nineteen-year-old Deleon Smith was posing for a selfie with what he thought was an unloaded gun. He accidentally shot himself and died. He would have started college the next day.

A daring selfie taken for the Selfie Olympics

Xenia Ignatyeva was a 17 year old girl trying to take the perfect selfie with the best lighting. It was the last picture she would ever take, as she fell off a railway bridge and was electrocuted on power lines.

Courtney Sanford (32) was having fun singing and driving on her way to work in North Carolina. Her Facebook post right before she crashed read, “The happy song makes me so HAPPY,” along with a selfie of her smiling.

There are many people who have taken dangerous selfies and accidentally been injured or suffered the consequences of death. Is it worth risking life to get a good photo with a lot of likes?

Is a selfie worth dying for?

Kelly Nash (sports reporter) turned her back and took a selfie during the Boston Red Sox baseball practice.

A Twitter account, called The Selfie Game (also known as The Selfie Olympics) has the tagline, “How strong is your selfie game?” The Selfie Game labels some of the most dangerous selfies as the “best” selfies taken. This promoting and glorifying of these life-threatening selfies is irresponsible. Or is it just a game? Francis Burrows, director of charity Mindfull says, “Most people look at these images and are shocked-but for these young people it can become competitive.” Martin Voigt, psychologist adds, “The photo is not so much about the theme of it, but the component behind it—they play with danger,” (for example, the guy who set himself on fire for a selfie pictured above).

To counter this new obsession of the most daring selfie as injuries and death tolls rise, Russia has taken action. The Russian police have recently released safety brochures and videos to ensure that the general public is warned about the dangers of certain selfies. Their campaign is called “Safe Selfies.”

America would do well to heed this movement.

Selfie Goes Viral

In 2014, a Wheaton graduate, Andrew Thompson ‘13, took a selfie at Yellowstone National Park with a bison in the background. His selfie ended up in the New York Times, Reddit, Imgur, countless articles, and on the cover of The Week.

Andrew Thompson’s reply to The New York Times article

Thompson recounts, “I drove for about 30 minutes and came upon a herd of bison in the middle of the road. I parked my car and hopped out and started taking pictures of the bison with my Nikon. Yellowstone NP dictates that visitors stay at least 25 yards from bison (which I didn’t yet know because I hadn’t read the materials). I got closer than I ought to have, and snapped a quick selfie on my iPhone of me and a bison that was probably 10-20 yards away.” He said that he only could stay in the park one day, so he was in a rush to see the sights and didn’t read the information packet given to him upon entering.

His story reminds us that not all dangerous selfies are taken intentionally for the social-media ‘likes.’ He said, “I didn’t think twice about the selfie that sat in my photos app on my phone. I didn’t share it or send it.”

In fact, it remained hidden on his phone for a full year before he shared it on The New York Times twitter page. Some people who take these dare devil selfies may just be in ignorance or be taking a spontaneous “I-just-wasn’t-thinking” picture. Despite the fact that not all selfies are intentionally dangerous, people need to analyze the danger that the potential outcome of a selfie could be injury, or even – death.

Think First, Selfie Second

On October 9th of this year, I fell down the stairs as a result of looking down at my phone and missing a step (don’t worry, I wasn’t hurt!). Regardless of intention, a selfie distracts a person from whatever is going on around him or her. American Psychological Association says, “Dual-tasking compels the brain to pull from some shared, limited resource, slowing reaction time,” Even in a relatively safe environment, taking a selfie could potentially put anyone in a vulnerable position. Psychologist David Strayer says, “As technology and interruption become more and more prevalent, the negative consequences of not paying attention become more pronounced.”

Homeschooler in the Real World

Emma Folts, a sophomore at Wheaton College, shares her experience about her transition into college and how homeschool has both helped and hindered her.
How has your homeschool experience benefitted you, especially in your transition into college?
I think the one thing that homeschooling did that was really helpful as I entered college was that it taught me time management. As a homeschooler I had the same freedom as a college student has to put things off during the day and go see a friend instead. Since I had that experience, I knew the cost of that.
Also, personal responsibility and accountability with assignments. I feel like a lot of the other students had more expectations for gentler grading and that the professor would give them retakes or extensions, but that wasn’t something that ever happened to me in school. That learning curve wasn’t added because I never had it the other way. I think another thing was that because I was homeschooled, I was familiar with the format of teaching and then studying on my own.
Did you see any issues with your transition socially?
I think that homeschooling had two ramifications for me socially. One was helpful, one was hurtful.
It was really helpful because as a homeschooler, I had spent a lot of time realizing and developing who I was as a person and learning to recognize people who were being themselves, and those were the people I sought out as friends. Friendship as a homeschooler takes a lot more investment. I knew I was choosier with my friends which made me a lot less anxious and a lot more content.
The only real negative impact of the social bit was that I was really used to getting to choose the time I got to spend with people. As a homeschooler I spent a lot of time with people, but that time was controlled by me. As a college student, I found that you can’t really control the time you spend with people and alone time is not really available. Learning to deal with that was a lot harder than anticipated.
Any last comments on homeschool and how it has affected your college experience?
I think homeschooling is really helpful, however it does take a slightly increased amount of advocacy with your peers when you’re entering into college. I think a lot of people come in with certain assumptions about homeschool, especially students. You’re going to get a lot of, ‘oh my gosh, you don’t seem like a homeschooled person!’ [You can’t] take that too personally and explain your experience so that friends can understand it’s an important piece of you, though it might not look like the homeschooling that they’ve seen.
My encouragement to anyone who is a homeschooler transitioning into college is to realize the benefit that you have having been homeschooled, and to realize that the bit of advocacy and explaining that you need to do with your peers is totally normal and that it’s not a big deal. Once they understand your experience, it’s not something I’ve experienced being looked down on for.